childhood

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The period of a person's life when they are a child.

   She spent her childhood in a small village by the sea.

2. 2
   noun

   The early stage in the development of something.

   At that time, the technology was still in its childhood.

Common collocations

• early childhood Adjective + noun
• loveless childhood Adjective + noun

From Middle English childhode, childhod, from Old English ċildhād (“childhood”). By surface analysis, child + -hood. Compare dialectal Dutch kindheid (“childishness”), German Low German Kinnerheid (“childhood”), and German Kindheit (“childhood”).

Topics

External links

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary
• Google Images